


Believe the Impossible

by Talyesin



Series: Aftermath on Finite Earths [26]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 13:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15510972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talyesin/pseuds/Talyesin





	Believe the Impossible

Earth-Four  
Hub City

 

“How is this possible?” Nightshade asked as Blue Beetle piloted the Bug stealthily over the sleeping city.

“The next Crossover isn’t for months,” Beetle answered. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Uncle Sam was originally from Earth Two,” the Question said. “Apparently he has the ability to crossover without needing the planets to be at the proper vibrational conjunction.”

“I didn’t know that,” Beetle said.

“What I want to know is, what would be so important that he’d abandon Earth-X?”

“Or so catastrophic?” Nightshade asked.

“Exactly.”

“How is he, Evey?”

Nightshade examined the life-signs monitor above the med-bed at the back of the Bug. “Ted, you better get back here. I can’t make heads or tails of these readings.”

“Question, take the controls?” Without waiting for a reply Beetle stood and went to the med-bed. A glance told him something Nightshade hadn’t been able to decipher, because his fingers began typing furiously on the attached keypad. Different diagnostics flashed on the monitor, none of which made any sense to Nightshade. With expert ease Beetle slipped an IV needle into Uncle Sam’s bare arm.

“That should stabilize him,” he said after several tense minutes.

“Kord, get up here,” Question called. Beetle gave Nightshade a humorous rolling of the eyes and hurried back to the cockpit.

“You know, I’m getting pretty fed up of you ordering us around.”

“What’s this light blinking for?”

“Uh oh.”

The Question got out of the pilot’s seat, letting Beetle take control. “That’s not an answer.”

“Hang on!”

The Bug immediately sped up and soared higher into the air, far above Hub City. Nightshade draped herself across Sam’s unconscious body, holding him in place, then reached for the keypad and punched in the command for the med-bed force shield to erect itself. Sam would be safe from the forces of inertia, gravity, and momentum inside. The same couldn’t hold true for anyone outside the bubble, however, and Nightshade was hurled away from the med-bed as Beetle took evasive manoeuvres.

“Kord, answer me.”

Outside the Bug, narrowly missing the vessel, an explosion of yellow-white energy rocked them. Question was knocked to one side of the cockpit.

“It’s a radiation detector,” Beetle answered tersely, piloting the Bug away from yet another explosion. Question pulled open a retractable chair and strapped himself hurriedly in. Nightshade joined them just as Beetle put the Bug into a steep dive. Like Question, she strapped herself into a retractable chair.

“It’s set to specifically detect high concentrations of the exact wavelengths we found in the rubble left by your would-be murderer.”

“Vic Sage’s would-be murderer.”

“Fine.”

“So who’s attacking us?”

An explosion rocked the Bug. 

“Gah!” Beetle yelled. “Sorry about that. Evey, get the scope up.”

Nightshade turned to the console next to her and activated the Bug’s external cameras. Several views resolved themselves, taken from many different points of view, a dizzying array of scenes of the night sky above and around them, and Hub City far below them, all weaving and whirling in and out of view as the Bug dodged explosion after explosion.

“There!” Nightshade exclaimed, pointing at one viewscreen. 

Though the night view was dark, the moonlight glinting along his silver arms and white hair marked him easily enough – they were being attacked by Captain Atom.

“Impossible,” the Question said.

“So you keep saying,” Nightshade replied. “If the answer you’re looking for’s in those journals, you better hurry up and decipher them.”

Another explosion rocked the ship. “No, Evey, I’m starting to believe him,” Beetle said, pulling up. “There’s no way Cap would be such a lousy shot.”


End file.
